[ieatfish]

Looks good! Been wanting to make a molle panel for my driver's window. Started the CAD and checking around with some friends and family who have machining access. I was looking at the Rago fabrication ones but they come in pairs. These look interesting, wonder what their turnaround is with no customization...

[P_nlsn]

Originally Posted by ieatfish

Looks good! Been wanting to make a molle panel for my driver's window. Started the CAD and checking around with some friends and family who have machining access. I was looking at the Rago fabrication ones but they come in pairs. These look interesting, wonder what their turnaround is with no customization...

Yeah, unlike the Rago, these can be bought individually - and they are fully customizable - every square inch of the panel can be designed to whatever you want

I believe my poor shipment times were the result of multiple things - the holidays, the pandemic, maybe even just the company itself, who knows. I placed my order in late November, and then I assume it got lost in the beginning surge of holiday orders. We were finally contacted around January about the order and began the process of designing my cut out for the console rack. The rear racks came 2 months after that, and the console rack came 2 more months after those, beacause of, if I remember correctly, a lack of inventory and a large amount of back orders at the company that laser cuts for them

I would assume now that everything has calmed down, the turn around would be a ton faster. The website says 1-2 weeks for absolutely no customization, 3 weeks for a custom color, and 6-8 weeks for custom cutouts and inlays

[P_nlsn]

As is typical with people of my age and my kind - I had some of (well, more like most of) my senior pics taken with my truck. I think they turned out pretty good, and since it's Toto, I figured this was an appropriate place to share them







Shout out to Mason Nelson (aka my brother and the dude with the dope trailblazer I always take pics with) for taking and editing these! Check him out, he's definitely a gifted photographer: Mason Nelson Photography's Website - Mason Nelson Photography on Instagram

[P_nlsn]

Originally Posted by P_nlsn

Coastal Offroad Oil Pan Skid Plate
Coastal Offroad Transfer case Skid Plate

These things turned out pretty great! After a week or two of multiple hours each day though, they were a bit more than the weekend project I was expecting

+=====================================+
Assembly Notes:

The assembly is pretty straight forward. Much like with the coastal bumper, the instructions are clear and have well detailed diagrams to assist in the assembly.

The only problem I ran into... was nothing fit right. I believe all of my problems were because of my diff drop though. We inquired about the diff drop before buying the kit and were assured the kit was compatible - but I believe we were told wrong. A decent bit of altercation/fabrication was required to make everything work

+=====================================+
Assembly:

Because of my diff drop, nothing lined up properly. The first thing I had to adjust were the slots of the middle bolt holes. I just filed them out with a file - a lot




Next I had to fill a gap between the front piece and middle piece. There was a solid 0.5"-ish gap left - even after filing the slots on both pieces about as much as I could - so I had to find something to fill it with. I found an 1/8" thick piece of flat bar in my garage, so I cut it to size and used that as my filler






Once I got that sorted out, it was time to get the rear piece to fit too. Because the middle piece was pushed so far back, I also had to file the slots on the end of the rear piece too. Once everything fit, it was time to weld it all up. I will be the first to say some of the welds aren't the prettiest - but in my defense, I had the mind set of "its a skid plate, who cares, no one will see it", and it was like 95 degrees outside with a humidity of 110 percent (stupid Arkansas summers), so I was just ready to get done with it. I did full welds on every outside joint, and stitch welds on every inside joint







Once welding and grinding was done, it was time to paint and finish them up. I used Rustoleum clean metal primer, then Rustoleum flat black protective enamel and Krylon Fusion Matte Red Pepper. I decided to rattle can them instead of powder coat cause they're skid plates - they're gonna get beat to crap, so I figured the powder coat was a waste of money and spray paint would be way easier to touch up and repaint when needed






Threw on the red stipe just for the heck of it to make them a little more unique

[montijo505]

Originally Posted by P_nlsn

These things turned out pretty great! After a week or two of multiple hours each day though, they were a bit more than the weekend project I was expecting

+=====================================+
Assembly Notes:

The assembly is pretty straight forward. Much like with the coastal bumper, the instructions are clear and have well detailed diagrams to assist in the assembly.

The only problem I ran into... was nothing fit right. I believe all of my problems were because of my diff drop though. We inquired about the diff drop before buying the kit and were assured the kit was compatible - but I believe we were told wrong. A decent bit of altercation/fabrication was required to make everything work

+=====================================+
Assembly:

Because of my diff drop, nothing lined up properly. The first thing I had to adjust were the slots of the middle bolt holes. I just filed them out with a file - a lot




Next I had to fill a gap between the front piece and middle piece. There was a solid 0.5"-ish gap left - even after filing the slots on both pieces about as much as I could - so I had to find something to fill it with. I found an 1/8" thick piece of flat bar in my garage, so I cut it to size and used that as my filler






Once I got that sorted out, it was time to get the rear piece to fit too. Because the middle piece was pushed so far back, I also had to file the slots on the end of the rear piece too. Once everything fit, it was time to weld it all up. I will be the first to say some of the welds aren't the prettiest - but in my defense, I had the mind set of "its a skid plate, who cares, no one will see it", and it was like 95 degrees outside with a humidity of 110 percent (stupid Arkansas summers), so I was just ready to get done with it. I did full welds on every outside joint, and stitch welds on every inside joint







Once welding and grinding was done, it was time to paint and finish them up. I used Rustoleum clean metal primer, then Rustoleum flat black protective enamel and Krylon Fusion Matte Red Pepper. I decided to rattle can them instead of powder coat cause they're skid plates - they're gonna get beat to crap, so I figured the powder coat was a waste of money and spray paint would be way easier to touch up and repaint when needed






Threw on the red stipe just for the heck of it to make them a little more unique

I had the same issues with the diff drop. However, I just spaced mine down with some nuts where it attaches to the radiator support and the spacers the stock skid used for the middle holes. The rear of the TC skid gave me the most problems as it was about two inches too long and the rear holes didn’t line up. I think they may have used a V8 initially for measurements as I bought pretty early on. They looked into it when I notified them. After cutting off the excess and slotting the plate for the bolts, I got it to work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[P_nlsn]

Originally Posted by montijo505

I had the same issues with the diff drop. However, I just spaced mine down with some nuts where it attaches to the radiator support and the spacers the stock skid used for the middle holes. The rear of the TC skid gave me the most problems as it was about two inches too long and the rear holes didn’t line up. I think they may have used a V8 initially for measurements as I bought pretty early on. They looked into it when I notified them. After cutting off the excess and slotting the plate for the bolts, I got it to work.

Yeah, it probably would've been easiest to use the spacers that were on the stock skids, but it figured it would be a little stronger if I could get it to work without them (or maybe it wouldn't really make a difference, I don't know), so I wanted to try it. And because of the tube lengths and diff brackets, I still had to use a double spacer in the middle on the driver side, and a single spacer on the passenger side.

And I think you're right on the V8 thing, I remember reading somewhere that they initially used a V8 to design them, so the early batches of the v6 ones weren't quite a perfect fit

[m4rGJA03]

good plan and wish list! i have been driving my 2003 v8 limited since 2014, and have been driving on road only. currently i am stuck in 4lo, soon to be corrected. this is my first t4r and enjoy the drive, ride and power! i plan to build up for some off roading in future. enjoy and stay connected to us t4rs

[P_nlsn]

Originally Posted by P_nlsn

'06-'09 Headlight Upgrade
MagnaFlow Muffler

Not much has happened with Toto lately - College has kinda put a dampener on my mod list. So I Just wanted to hop on here and give a little update:

Most of the recent work has just been maintenance - stuff like new CV's, pinion seal, LCA's, etc
+=======================+
MagnaFlow Muffler:
Chopped the resonator off and had an 18" magnaflow muffler put in to give the v6 a little more rumble. I got tired of how whiny it was, and I'm pretty happy with how it sounds now. It's definitely got more low end on it, but it's still quiet enough that it's not uncomfortable to drive long distances


+=======================+
'06-'09 Headlight Upgrade:
I also recently swapped my horrendously faded and yellowed headlights with some fresh 06-09 housings

Before:


After:


I bought the housings off of RockAuto , and I got the color matched bumper fillers from my local Toyota dealer. For bulbs, I went with Philips XtremeVision in both low and high beams. I'm pretty pleased with the output of the headlights, and the look of the housings - Not sure if the bulbs are that good, or if I just lost that much light through the discoloration of the old housings

[P_nlsn]

I haven't been very active, but I finally caught a free moment during college to get out and camp with my dad - It was much needed, and I unintentionally learned just how much mud my rig can handle
+=============================+
Snapped a few photos while I was out there, and probably took my favorite photo of my truck yet:



Had an absolute blast out there, and I will definitely be going back next chance I get!







I also may or may not have gotten stuck and crapped my pants while using my truck like a bulldozer First time using my winch though, so I guess at least now I know it works

WinchingOut.mp4 - YouTube



Here's the aftermath. Pretty sure I still have a thick layer of mud sitting in my skid plates

[P_nlsn]

Originally Posted by P_nlsn

(swapped in a 175k engine @ 326,725 miles)

URD 3° Retard Exhaust Cam Gears
JBA 409 Silver Ceramic LT Headers

175k mile engine swap @ ~326,725 miles

Just finished up Swapping in a 175k mile engine from an 07 into Toto! You can check out the thread here about the swap: 07 Engine Swap into an 03

It looks like I'm seeing about a +2-4mpg gain (depending on how heavy my foot feels lol) from the cam gears, LongTubes, and fixed headgaskets

While I was working on all this, I decided to go ahead and install the JBA LT headers (old ones had more cracks that a wicker basket). I also put a Hayden 679 cooler in because my transmission didn't like moving all the weight of my truck on hills



And here is a timelapse of everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5EbS4Zjmqg&feature=youtu.be

[P_nlsn]

Originally Posted by P_nlsn

Maintenance Stuff
New BFGoodrich 35x12.5 KO2s after 47.8k miles (bad alignment wore the front inside bald, quarter/half tread left on rear)

Drivetrain + Suspension
Dobinsons IMS front struts
Dobinsons C59-354 front coils

Just finished up a bunch of work on the front end. Replaced my cheap aftermarket CVs with OEMs pulled from a junkyard. Rebooted with Dobinsons inner and outer high clearance CV boot kits. Replaced my cheap aftermarket LCAs with OEMs because the aftermarket ones allowed the ball joint to spin inside the seat. And installed Total Chaos alignment tabs because my stock ones had flattened out, result in a bad alignment that wore the inside of my front tires completely bald.

The rebooting process really sucked. Trying to get the boot on destroyed my fingers, and grease went feakin EVERYWHERE, but it was so much cheaper than brand new OEM CVs, so I guess still worth it. I used hose clamps to hold the boots on because the metal band clamps it came with are stupid. I used a 3-5" (#72) on the cup side and a 3/4-1 3/4" (#20) on the shaft side